Asian Ashes

In few hours from now the mystery will unfold in Lahore. Third series between Asian rivals in two years promises to be a great statement for test cricket. The biggest question in everybody’s mind is if Saurav Ganguly will be in the playing XI or not. There are also speculations of him playing as an opener. I don’t like to speculate and will rather wait to know what Dravid has in his mind but in my opinion Ganguly’s selection as an opener will send a wrong signal to not only Gambhir and Jaffar but to every aspiring opener in domestic ranks. If Yuvraj merits selection over Ganguly on his current form then he should be in, plain and simple. I am not too convinced of Ganguly’s ability as third seamer. At best he can be restrictive and used to provide some rest for strike bowlers but to win tests you need to attack all the time.

So many experts including past greats are calling this series a battle between Indian batting and Pakistani bowling. I just can’t get the logic. There may be a time in the past when Indian bowling was little beyond Kapil Dev and batting was so much stronger in comparison. Today equations have changed quite a bit. Indian bowling is surely International standard even though not the best in the world. Pakistan is not really much stronger in that department as they are made out to be in the media. This is not the same attack as the one consisting of Imran, Wasim, Waqar & Kadir. Shoaib and Kaneria are very good bowlers but only great bowler playing in this series is Anil Kumble and he is on Indian side. Pakistani batsmen are not for easy ride either.

I really think these two teams are quite balanced and evenly matched considering all factors such as current forms of players and wickets etc. Predicting anything in Cricket is almost foolish and especially when it is mother of all series. At worst this series might turn out to be one with one sided matches but chances are (and I really hope for) we are in for a repeat of English summer of 2005.

Welcome to Asian Ashes!